"He who comes to Communion loses himself in God,
as a drop of water in the ocean.
They can be no more separated." - St John Vianney
"His union with those whom He loves surpasses
every union of which one might conceive, and
cannot be compared with any model.
Therefore even Scripture needed many illustrations to be able to express that connection, since one would not suffice. In one place it employs the figures of an inhabitant and a dwelling, in another those of a vine and branch, here that of a marriage, there that of members and a head.
None of those figures is adequate for that union, for it is impossible from these to attain to the exact truth. Above all it is necessary that the union should conform to friendship - yet what could be adequate for divine love?
...So I come to that which is strangest. To whom else could one be more closely united than to oneself? Yet this very unity is inferior to that union. For each of the spirits of the blessed ones is identical with himself, yet it is united to the Saviour more than to him. It loves the Saviour more than itself."
Nicholas Cabasilas (+ 1392)
Greek monk, mystic, bishop
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